Onoda, 10 000 nuits dans la jungle (2021)

"Whatever happens, we'll come back for you"

Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle told the true story of one of the last Japanese holdouts after WWII. Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945. The war ended for Onoda Hiroo 29 years later on March 9, 1974. During his training as an intelligence officer he was told he had to survive at all costs and that "Whatever happens, we'll come back for you.” Onoda learned the hard way that the military was not as loyal to him as he was to the mission.

“We will be back for you. We will be back. Whatever happens---survive!”
Late in WWII, Onoda Hiroo fails pilot school because he has a fear of heights and dying. He’s recruited to train as an intelligence officer and in guerilla warfare in December 1944. Before he leaves, his father (mother IRL) gives him a dagger to kill himself with rather than be captured should the need arise. When he arrives on Lubang Island none of the other officers will help him with his mission which was to disable the airstrip and port. Most of the soldiers are hungry, demoralized, and/or ill. The Americans take the island shortly after his arrival. Soon the only Japanese soldiers not dead or captured are Onoda and the three men he chose to work with him---Kozuka, Shimada, and Akatsu. Believing they must hold their ground until more Japanese forces arrive, they set up camp in the jungle and cause damage to the farmers’ fields in order to keep the locals afraid of them. They subsist on whatever they can find or steal, taking up residence in caves or homemade huts. The small group of holdouts refuse to believe the war is over and patiently wait for reinforcements.

“Try to change the way you see things”
Two different actors played Onoda and his second in command, Kozuka. They all performed admirably as the characters aged and learned to survive in the jungle and rely on each other. The film confined most of the shots to the men and their duties which displayed their arduous methods of staying alive. Bound by their limited outside contact, their lives seemed incredibly sad. They were completely isolated and separated from family and loved ones. As much as the film focused on the holdouts it would have been nice to gain the locals’ perspective of the killers in the hills and the fear they instilled for a time.

“They know that what is complicated and even incomprehensible, sounds true!”
My first thought when Onoda’s father handed him the dagger and told him, “Your body is the Fatherland. Do not let it fall into enemy hands,” was the Spartan mothers’ declaration to their sons, “With your shield or on it.” Ordered not to die and trained to unconditionally obey orders, unwilling to return home defeated, and determined to prove himself, Onoda’s psyche was trapped in a nightmare in the jungle of Lubang. The outside world and even loved ones attempted to convince Onoda that the war was over, but he could only see conspiracy theories everywhere he looked, convinced that Japan was still fighting. Eventually, he had access to newspapers, magazines, and a transistor radio but believed it was all an elaborate ruse to trick them. At some point, Onoda’s rigid obedience and views appeared to come across as an over-inflated sense of self. Why would the enemy go to such extraordinary lengths to trick one man? If he was that important they could have sent in a wave of soldiers to kill him or just bombed the jungle. Onoda had a high level of cognitive dissonance as he clung to his beliefs in the face of harsh opposing facts.

“What if we killed people we’re no longer at war with?”
Onoda and his men were resourceful and resilient. The youngest left after nearly 5 years and another was killed after almost nine. When the second in command was killed after 27 years of holding out, it seemed to chip away at Onoda’s confidence. Despite their incorrect assessments, Onoda and his men were a product of their training and propaganda. They truly believed they were serving the greater good by holding their position on the island. It took as much determination as denial to be separated from family and friends, to live on roots and fruit often with only rudimentary shelter for nearly three decades. In 1974 a Japanese adventurer discovered Onoda and befriended him. The young man caused Onoda an existential crisis as the holdout could no longer deny that Japan and the world had changed. The military bore responsibility as well. The loyal soldiers killed 30 inhabitants over the years. Two of the four died pointlessly and Onoda lost 30 years of his life because no one cleaned up the mess they created. These soldiers were imbedded on islands in the last months of the war when the writing was on the wall. VE Day occurred not long after Onoda was stationed on Lubang and Japan surrendered in August of 1945. All it took was for Onoda’s superior to come back for him. Unfortunately, for Onoda, his men and the people of Lubang, it took nearly 30 years to do so.

30 April 2024

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